60 Facts About Ross Perot

Henry Ross Perot was an American business magnate, billionaire, politician and philanthropist.

Ross Perot was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems.

Ross Perot ran an independent campaign in the 1992 US presidential election and a third-party campaign in the 1996 US presidential election as the nominee of the Reform Party, which was formed by grassroots supporters of Perot's 1992 campaign.

Ross Perot established Ross Perot Systems in 1988 and was an angel investor for NeXT, a computer company founded by Steve Jobs after he left Apple.

Bush, Ross Perot became increasingly active in politics and strongly opposed the Gulf War and ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In 1992, Ross Perot announced his intention to run for president and advocated a balanced budget, an end to the outsourcing of jobs, and the enactment of electronic direct democracy.

Ross Perot chose Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate and appeared in the 1992 debates with Bush and Clinton.

Ross Perot won support from across the ideological and partisan spectrum, but performed best among self-described moderates.

Ross Perot ran for president again in 1996, establishing the Reform Party as a vehicle for his campaign.

Ross Perot won 8.4 percent of the popular vote against President Clinton and Republican nominee Bob Dole.

Ross Perot endorsed Republican George W Bush over Reform nominee Pat Buchanan in the 2000 election and supported Republican Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012.

Ross Perot attended a local private school, Patty Hill, before graduating from Texas High School in Texarkana in 1947.

Ross Perot started his first job at 8 years old, helping to distribute the Texarkana Gazette as a paperboy.

Ross Perot's father died when Perot was 25 years old.

Ross Perot joined the Boy Scouts of America and made Eagle Scout in 1942, after 13 months in the program.

Ross Perot was a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

Ross Perot served as a junior officer on a destroyer, and later, an aircraft carrier from 1953 to 1957.

Ross Perot, who had only ever owned one pair of shoes at a time, was shocked to find that he was issued multiple pairs of shoes in the navy, which he would later point to as "possibly my first example of government waste".

Ross Perot then went to the Naval Reserve, which he left on June 30,1961, with the rank of Lieutenant.

In 1956 Ross Perot married Margot Birmingham, whom he met on a blind date as a midshipman docked in Baltimore.

Ross Perot quickly became a top employee and tried to pitch his ideas to supervisors, who largely ignored him.

Ross Perot left IBM in 1962 to found Electronic Data Systems in Dallas, Texas, and courted large corporations for his data processing services.

Ross Perot was denied bids for contracts 77 times before receiving his first contract.

In 1984, Ross Perot's Ross Perot Foundation bought a very early copy of Magna Carta, one of only a few to leave the United Kingdom.

Ross Perot believed in Jobs and did not want to miss out, as he had with his chance to invest in Bill Gates's fledgling Microsoft.

In 1990, Ross Perot reached an agreement with Vietnam's Foreign Ministry to become its business agent if diplomatic relations were normalized.

Ross Perot launched private investigations of, and attacks upon, United States Department of Defense official Richard Armitage.

Ross Perot unsuccessfully urged Senators to vote against the war resolution, and began to consider a presidential run.

On February 20,1992, Ross Perot appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and announced his intention to run as an independent if his supporters could get his name on the ballot in all 50 states.

Ross Perot's candidacy received increasing media attention when the competitive phase of the primary season ended for the two major parties.

Several months before the Democratic and Republican conventions, Ross Perot filled the vacuum of election news, as his supporters began petition drives to get him on the ballot in all 50 states.

Ross Perot was late in making formal policy proposals, but most of what he did call for was intended to reduce the deficit, such as a fuel tax increase and cutbacks to Social Security.

The next day, Ross Perot announced on Larry King Live that he would not seek the presidency.

Ross Perot explained that he did not want the House of Representatives to decide the election if the result caused the electoral college to be split.

Ross Perot eventually stated the reason was that he received threats that digitally altered photographs would be released by the Bush campaign to sabotage his daughter's wedding.

Many of his supporters felt betrayed, and public opinion polls subsequently showed a largely negative view of Ross Perot that was absent before his decision to end the campaign.

Ross Perot denounced Congress for its inaction in his speech at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on March 18,1992; he said:.

Economically the majority of Ross Perot voters were middle class, earning between $15,000 and $49,000 annually, with the bulk of the remainder drawing from the upper-middle class.

Ross Perot remained in the public eye after the election and championed opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Ross Perot tried to keep his movement alive through the mid-1990s, continuing to speak about the increasing national debt.

Ross Perot was a prominent campaigner against NAFTA, and frequently claimed that American manufacturing jobs would go to Mexico.

On November 10,1993, Ross Perot debated with then-Vice President Al Gore on the issue on Larry King Live with an audience of 16 million viewers.

Ross Perot's behavior during the debate was a source of mirth thereafter, including his repeated pleas to "let me finish" in his southern drawl.

Ross Perot spent much less of his own money in this race than he had four years prior, and he allowed other people to contribute to his campaign, unlike his prior race.

Ross Perot was reportedly unhappy with what he saw as the disintegration of the party, as well as his own portrayal in the press; thus, he chose to remain quiet.

Ross Perot appeared on Larry King Live four days before the election and endorsed George W Bush for president.

In 2005, Ross Perot was asked to testify before the Texas Legislature in support of proposals to extend access to technology to students, including making laptops available to them.

Ross Perot supported changing the process of buying textbooks by making e-books available and by allowing schools to purchase books at the local level instead of going through the state.

In January 2008, Ross Perot publicly came out against Republican candidate John McCain and endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

Ross Perot announced that he would soon be launching a new website with updated economic graphs and charts.

Ross Perot did not give any endorsements for the 2016 election.

Ross Perot did not fit the usual political stereotypes; his views were seen as either pragmatic or populist, depending on the observer, and usually focused on his economic policy, such as balancing the budget, to gain support from both Democratic and Republican voters.

Ross Perot supported stricter gun control such as an assault weapons ban and supported increased research in AIDS.

Ross Perot was hesitant on covering the issue of gay rights during his 1992 campaign, but openly supported gay rights in 1996.

From 1992, Ross Perot was a pro-choice activist, and a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood.

Ross Perot stated that poorer women in particular should have access to abortions via federal funding.

Ross Perot believed taxes should be increased on the wealthy, while spending should be cut to help pay off the national debt.

Ross Perot believed the capital gains tax should be increased, while giving tax breaks to those starting new businesses.

Ross Perot died from leukemia in Dallas, Texas, on July 9,2019, less than two weeks after his 89th birthday.

Ross Perot was buried at the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery and a memorial service was held at Highland Park United Methodist Church, with 1,300 invited guests.